History Need help identifying!!!

I've tried google and talking to every old timer I know and can't figure out what this cowl is! It came from a shop that closed down that dealt with nothing but 1950 and earlier luxury cars duesenbergs, auburns, etc! Any ideas? There is no number or ID tags anywhere on the body. Hoping somebody can identify it by the large louver vents down the side of the cowl. Any help appreciated thanks!!

 

This could get interesting....it was either a roadster or phaeton..

not a cheapie either

Beltline and maybe the vents do help with ID. The vents could be from a certain coachbuilder, or maybe factory, I don't know

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Never seen a cowl with louvers in it!

 

firetruck? or other "work" vehicle.

 

Somebody has got to know, there is tons of years of knowledge here on the HAMB!

 

Good thinking!

 

I don't think it can be a truck; one reason is cowl lights, and a better reason is the swoopy door opening it had. The cowl top is sculpted to give a nice shape to the upper door edge. Also the bottom front corner of the door is decorative shape

I can't tell if it had sidemount tires like a classic. Those holes look like where the sidemount would be braced, but I suppose the holes could be for cowl light wires....but that seems unlikely

That exact era with the cast light bracket, normally would have the wire run inside the arm, hidden. But on the side that is missing the casting, I don't see the extra hole in the cowl tin, underneath the bracket.

Have you tried to find pricey makes with horizontal hood louvers? I would think the cowl louvers are a continuation of the hood louvers. Off the top of my head, Peerless and just a maybe on Marmon. I would be looking at 29 to 32, due to cowl light bracket design. Check the plating type, if Nickel it's earlier, chrome started mostly 28-29 as a general guide.


If it's European, I have no clue.
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...and the firewall recess looks like it is for a sidevalve inline engine. It seems too short for an overhead design

 

Thanks for all the great Info!! I'm googling everything I can think of! Bump for the night crew, let's figure this out!!

 

The louvers are cut horizontal. All the old coach built super cars that I have seen .... had their adjoining cowls louvered vertically in some fashion. What a neat find ! Hope it's something cool for you.

 

Did a google image search.. Check out "1930 Stutz M8 Roadster Lebaron Body Roadster - Image 4"

 

I would say that you nailed it....

 

How did you know? WOW

 

dodger strikes again!

 

It wasn't DODGER, It was found by inthweedz from New Zealand.

I jumped to the same conclusions, then I thought about the Phoenix, Oregon School system.

 

Go to Google Images and copy and paste "1930 Stutz M8 Roadster Lebaron Body Roadster - Image 4" Image 5 actually shows a better view...

 

Yep, 29-30 Stutz. They had 3 different body builders, Hale Kilburn, Le Baron, and Weymann,. Some have the louvers and some have vent doors.

 

Here's a better pic..

 

brilliant deduction!

 

Now THAT is a very cool find ! Bingo ! (^What's up with the dirty a#s whitewalls ?? ^) Be an interesting phantom hot rod build for that cowl. Too bad it can't talk.

 

Now that you know what it is.. are you going to sell it, or square it up and start building something.

 

Wow thanks inthweedz you nailed it!! This is why I love the HAMB!! Thanks everybody for your input what a rush it was to figure it out!!

 

Anybody have any idea on what this thing is worth?

 

I'm not sure yet!! I wanna try and figure out what it's worth and in toying around with selling my sport coupe and building this instead.. Would be a pretty cool build I think

 

ahhhh. to be young....

 

I was pretty sure this was going to be a cool ID thread. I think it adds some class to Hamb; we don't just cut and modify cars of that era, but we also have a great interest in history, especially these high end souped up cars built for the elite, during the first years of the Great Depression.

The most inmpressive US cars, most with custom coachwork, came from the time when the companies were forced to go "all out" to attract the few wealthy buyers who still had big bucks.

I still recall being at Hershey show day 45 years ago, seeing these monsters all lined up in the "big boy area" of the show........I just can't imagine what it was like seeing these cars lined up in new car showrooms back when they were new.
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I wish I could have been there to see them in the show rooms as well!! Here is a pretty cool write up with a little history on the stutz.. Still trying to figure out its worth, may need to make some phone calls.

http://www.mcecars.com/viewInventory.cfm?invID=579

I do have a spare Buick straight8 laying around.. Also I know where a straight 16 is sitting in a shop I'm thinking that would be pretty cool! Maybe even a boat tail?

 

I'm egging you on a little. I'm sure it's a valuable piece-if a restorer has a car, you may find no buyers with such a small part of the car.

I think it would be a great build to use this as the basis, but a huge commitment making the rest of the body based on this part to match the original.

If the cowl doesn't sell, combine it with some other make parts, fab what's left and have a very cool roadster.

 

About 3 years ago, an elderly friend who has tons of antique cars, was given 2 bare frames and two trailer loads of early car axles.

One frame was Id'd as a unknown year of Stutz, and mint shape stored indoors for years. It later got scrapped !

One front axle he had was ID'd on AACA as a 1932 Stutz DV-32. That thing was built like truck in size, but it was unusually narrow at the drums. An AACA guy talked his buddy into buying it for spares for his 32 Stutz, so it was not scrapped

 

Price goes up if you strap it to a pallet. Price goes up again if you have crating on said pallet. Metal guys would love it. That said ... metal guy can also build with NEW metal. Stutz guys have lots of metal guys. Hard question to answer.

I'd give ya' 150 if it was here. It's a hundo to get it to Texas - dimensional quote Yellow Freightish -- maybe a little less/more. Put it on a pallet for me for $50 bucks ??? Probably not.

Either way, that's bada#s. Hope you're a metal guy in waiting. Cool item to build around.